When did BTP stop wearing orange hi-viz?

[Christmas]

I was watching rail videos from the 80s and 90s on YouTube and noticed that the British Transport Police were wearing orange coloured vests over their police uniforms. Does anyone know when they changed from orange to yellow and the reasons why?

Unlike ordinary civilian police, BTP have to regularly access the running lines of the railway, so surely orange makes more sense than yellow? Yellow isn't permitted to be worn by other staff on the running line.

 

[TUC]

I was watching rail videos from the 80s and 90s on YouTube and noticed that the British Transport Police were wearing orange coloured vests over their police uniforms. Does anyone know when they changed from orange to yellow and the reasons why?

Unlike ordinary civilian police, BTP have to regularly access the running lines of the railway, so surely orange makes more sense than yellow? Yellow isn't permitted to be worn by other staff on the running line.

Could it be for that very reason-that yellow makes police officers distinctive during an incident?

 

[357]

Could it be for that very reason-that yellow makes police officers distinctive during an incident?

The issue is that it makes them less visible when lineside!

I've called the signaller in the past after seeing a random police officer walking down the track, as there is the further problem (in incidents too) that you can't tell them apart from normal police.

And in incidents such as one unders, normal police have a nasty habit of turning up and trying to take control, including going onto the track and making ridiculous demands such as isolating OHLE.

Perhaps a distinctive orange/yellow could be the way forward

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

BTP used to wear Heavy Black Pullovers whereas regular Police wore Navy Pullovers.

 

[8A Rail]

Not directly connected to the 'hi-vis' issue although I must admit I have never noticed when on the rare occasion I see a BT officer but I was on the BT Police website last night and I could not find any reference or page with reference to enthusiast / photographers guidelines as there used to be one. I had a good look around the website but nothing. Everything else is covered as per 'normal' police matters but railway related seems to be lacking. Strange. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[AVK17]

I don't know exactly when the change from orange to yellow came but I'd put it around 1996/1997.

Not directly connected to the 'hi-vis' issue although I must admit I have never noticed when on the rare occasion I see a BT officer but I was on the BT Police website last night and I could not find any reference or page with reference to enthusiast / photographers guidelines as there used to be one. I had a good look around the website but nothing. Everything else is covered as per 'normal' police matters but railway related seems to be lacking. Strange. Any help would be appreciated.

It's on the Network Rail website - https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/railway-enthusiasts/

 

[66701GBRF]

I don't know exactly when the change from orange to yellow came but I'd put it around 1996/1997.

Will be later than that as there are pictures of BTP in Orange at the Selby crash in 2001 and Nocton, Lincolnshire in 2002.

 

[507020]

ridiculous demands such as isolating OHLE.

Why would that be a ridiculous demand. It seems perfectly reasonable that electrification (3rd rail included) should be isolated after such an incident. It’s not like trains can keep running is it?

 

[66701GBRF]

Why would that be a ridiculous demand. It seems perfectly reasonable that electrification (3rd rail included) should be isolated after such an incident. It’s not like trains can keep running is it?

Depending on the nature and location, trains can be terminated and turned or brought into platforms. That is pretty hard to do with an emergency isolation that can take out 10s of miles of overheads. There is no need to turn off overheads unless it’s a direct risk to the casualty or responders…it usually isn’t.

 

[8A Rail]

I don't know exactly when the change from orange to yellow came but I'd put it around 1996/1997.

It's on the Network Rail website - https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/railway-enthusiasts/

Thank You, I was aware of that one as only relate to NR controlled stations. BTP site did have one though, hence the question.

 

[357]

Why would that be a ridiculous demand. It seems perfectly reasonable that electrification (3rd rail included) should be isolated after such an incident. It’s not like trains can keep running is it?

3rd rail ios very different to overheads. In my case it resulted in a train full of people having to watch a body get extracted from the windscreen of a train after a particularly nasty incident, instead of going wrong direction back into the platform of the previous station to de-train.

Out of interest, have you ever used a level/foot crossing? Did you notice in third rail land there is a gap, but in OHLE land there isn't even a neutral section for crossings - those wires are live at 25,000 volts, but you are a safe distance away from them that it isn't an issue.

 

[Mojo]

I don't know exactly when the change from orange to yellow came but I'd put it around 1996/1997.

I’d agree with this, as Police, both Home Office forces and BTP didn’t routinely wear hi-vis at all. The orange was reserved for their track access much in the way a driver or guard wouldn’t routinely wear a hi-vis unless going on the track environment. It was only around this similar time that police nationwide started wearing hi-vis.

Even now within BTP there are some units such as the dog section, firearms and specialist response units that wear all-black, but such officers would carry yellow hi-vis in their vehicles for when track access is needed.